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Part I

The northlands that were the colonies were always a livid and undressed land of which even after four centuries still found itself believed to be obscure and unknown to the modern world that placed itself to the southernmost lands of humas; and as with most of human relations there was always profit in putting one's boot to another’s face. Slavery was the practice of such boot behavior and whilst also illegal and not sanctioned it was hardly non-profitable; especially with races of the faefolk like elves, fairies, & nymphs. When one ages so slowly and have such stamina they was always a certain interest, and the employers of the slave trade were hardly as ill-equipped as they were in previous generations.

"A'right, you bloody germs, you best be gettin' used to them collars like you be gettin' used to cages. We won' be havin' you runnin' off, either, 'lest you want to end up like the last one. Quite a waste if you ask me." one of the enforcers, a human named Bran shouted in the broken tongue of colonial commonfolk.

The camp was blocked off by carriages and cheap pickets of palisade and sheep wire, with guards posted on each entryway. The caravan had stopped and after acquiring a good trio of new 'recruits' for their trade, they were soon to be ready to go off and settle in whatever warehouse they would store the people they intended to sell; be it for sexual, labor, or entertainment ventures. Either way, neither elf nor nymph cared to be locked in chains with torques placed upon their necks. To be free one minute, only to be alone and encumbered was a terrible thing.

Ner'yahkavere, was one fey who found herself caught completely helpless by such tormenting solitude. The collar was a prison away from magic and the chains were prisons that stopped her from fleeing and finding someone; some person to remove the burden from her neck. It was like she was to be submitted to their own devices; and she did not know these plentyn1 people so she had no idea what was to become to her. Perhaps it would have been best to stayed on the island amongst her own kind? She had no clue, all she wanted to do was scream or cry; but neither action of expression came so.

Just silence.

One such Fey would have his curiosity piqued by this strange little camp. Never before had he experienced slavers, nor was he aware they were though they had set up a camp in his woodland vicinity and that meant they might be fair game for a few good pranks.

Or so he would like to have done. Seeing the other Fey chained up was slightly unnerving in that regard. He didn't want to prank people that would chain him up afterwards. It also upset him to see his own kind chained up like that.

"Hmm… maybe if I do this!" He thought casting a spell to freeze the chains that bound his fellow fey. It would take time but the chains should chill to the point their more fragile. In the meantime the ground would become slick under one of the slavers.

The aforementioned slaver's feet caught the frozen area just like sprinting in wet mud and it threw the human on his back, hitting his head on the cold, hard ground. However, this only mildly alerted the other guards to their own amusement. "Can't you stay on your feet, Bael?" mocked one of the others, an aladori named Vinwal.

"Oh, sod off you damned shit! Bloody ground just got s'ippery is all!" he groaned as he tried to regain his footing.

"Well, I'd certainly hope so! It is well into winter!" Vinwal retorted to his amusement. At this time the in-chained fey, Ner'yahkavere, found herself nothing the chains were getting colder and frailer than they ought to be; even in the winter environment. This caused her eyes to widen, wondering what sort of magical brawd2 was nearby and trying to give in some subtle aid?

"Well that is int'resting for sure. I wonder once this chain be breakin' whether I should book it or use magic to remove this damned collar?" she thought, her fingers beginning to tap and twitch in the process. It would be a little while before a good jolt would be able to sever the chains but at least she knew she wasn't at the machinations of the plentyn around her. That was comforting for her for certain.

Rauthr couldn't help but giggle quietly at the one they called Bael as the though crossed his mind "Well he did FALL for it!" It was not the greatest humor, but then again he was simply amused. Looking back to his fey sister in chains it seemed they might need a smidge more time, to which his amethyst eyes locked onto a snow pile high in the trees almost above the one who poked fun at Bael.

"Let's see how you like it when the fun pokes back?" He thought to himself using a bit of magic to tip the tree branch ever so slightly in his favor. Planning to use this as a good distraction he started to sneak around the camp to the side with the enslaved.

The snow plopping down on Vinwal was something of a solid distraction as Ner'yahkavere took this as movement to act on the weathered, frozen metal around her wrists. The biggest flaw with that, even with the weakened lock there was the fact that the faefolk races were frail, physically weak while dexterous at the same time. It would take a rock or some other dense material to splint the metal.

It took a few moments, minutes for Ner to find herself such an object as with all the force she had available forced the frozen metal against a normal iron bar nearby, which would certainly cause attention. As the metal broke, removing her entrapment to the post it was attached to she realized she had to move. This was no fight or flight, there was no way she was getting the anti-magic collar around her neck removed or not yet at least.

"What?!" exclaimed one of the near guards to her as he attempted to push her down to restrain her, in which she; using her natural dexterity dodged the human slaver and with all of the speed she could muster ran towards the nearest exit.

"One of 'em is getting away!"

"Get 'er!"

With no more time for pranks he realized seeing one of his own sprinting away as the humans called out orders to eachother to stop her. In quick succession he put together a little wind to blow some snow up in the air to hopefully hamper their vision as well as a a spell to make his voice echo around the camp starting to laugh mischieviously. "That ought to confuse them…now for my own escape…" He thought making a dash and preparing another spell that could be heard echoing around the humans. The spell meant to repurpose the wind to shift the snow on the ground to hide their tracks.

Once he was confident he was far enough away he cut the echo and wind spells and slumped against a tree laughing lightly. "Not sure what that was all about but that was loads of fun! I wonder if they travel through here often?" He said to himself.

Blinded by snow and confused by sound, the slavers would soon find themselves losing the female fey, though instead of pursuing it when everything cleared up they soon went to treating it by counting their losses and preparing to make sense of their situation. This however was unbeknownst to Ner'yahkavere as she bolted right into the large pine woodlands and never look back. She was NOT going to be recaptured at all.

Were all the second races like this?

Perhaps, the Siren of Alyr'gwyen was right? She wasn't sure.

In his moment of self-satisfaction he'd catch sight of the nymph he helped get away. He felt a little nostalgia for his kin and decided to give chase. It might be nice to chat with another of his kind. He noticed she still had the collar around her neck he noticed. He wondered if it was her own or if it was part of the chains the humans bound her by. "I'll ask her when she slows down. That could take a while." He thought wondering if he should try to prank someone who could get him back later.

Running at top speed through a woodland environment that one could not be sure of their familiarity with strikes a large amount of exhaustion and quickly at that. For Ner'yahkavere she soon found herself in winter, her lungs expanded, and exhausted and sustaining little consciousness near a large, tumid waterfall that exhumed harsh and freezing waters into a nearby lake in the forest that went downward through the hills and out of the wood through a multitude of rivers and creeks. The female fey's thoughts were non-existent as her body was just so thankful to be stopped, even in the cold winter of the colonial northlands. Her lavender hair as disheveled as the mountains in the distance as it covered her small, youthful face and her wide cerulean eyes both frantic and frightened within this fatigue.

If terrified was what it felt like to be safe, terrified felt good, terrified felt better than broken.

He would have kept up quite easily having the advantage of several magic tricks. This confused him; why hadn't she used any magic? She could have ran much further if she had and that bothered him. Was she incapable of using magic? all of these thoughts and more passed through his mind as he took in her appearance. Her cerulean eyes played nicely off of her lavender hair, she looked terrified though. Why? Those people couldn’t have followed through the little blizzard and sounds storm he conjured up.

He cast a spell to keep prying eyes off of the Nymph and himself as well as sound dampening just in case anyone came looking. "You okay?" He asked, an amethyst eyes peeking around a tree not sure if she was safe to approach right now.

The sudden surprise of a vocal inquiry surprised her, but her body had been battered by her capture and her escape. She would of jumped if she could of, but to do so would of required more stamina than she had at that given time. She did however wince out of a sense of trepidation for a moment that is until she recognized the accent of the two words spoken. It took some time for her mind to connect the two, but it calmed her and she took time to speak back towards the source of the voice.

"…I could be sayin' I have been… better."

He was hesitant but she didn't seem harmful for the moment. He moved out from behind the tree and looked her over. "Aye that ya could…if yer not mindful of it I could be doin' a bit of healin' then?" He asked still keeping his distance. He knew his kin were tricksters and so learned to be mindful of them as well as the other races.

"I think bein' free of this accursed thing would be better first." she said honestly whilst referring to the magical collar upon her neck, looking to the approaching figure of the male fey. She had never seen a male of her kind before, so her natural sense of curiosity did come to her with this. However, her lack of stamina lessened such curiosity. All Ner'yahkavere could want was related to the collar around her neck and it being not there at the given moment. Healing would come later as she had plenty ability to do so, though she wasn't so sure on that.

He took a look at the strange collar around her neck. He'd never seen anything like it before and wondered what it did to be so accursed. "Oh…I been lookin' at that …I think I could be freein' ya from it. What’s' it do?" He asked thinking up a way to get it off without harming her. Freezing it and shoving something into the lock could break the lock instead of trying to break the collar and potentially hurting her neck. He'd mutter something under his breath and the collar would start to become chilled.

"…it does the work of demons, what it be' is so perverse I don't want to scare you until it's off me neck." she said, knowing well that fey magical ability was focused around emotion. Fear was the bane to fey, and she knew so.

He looked from her to it not sure what to make of it just then. He did approach her then needing to fiddle with the lock to get it off. "I'll be trustin' yer word on that…now be holdin' still fer a sec…" He said shaping a small twig into what looked like a metal rod. He inserted it where the key would go and gave it a good tap or two with his free hand.

After a moment or two of that a light metallic tink could be heard releasing the collar. He smiled. "An' there yah be! All takin' care of…now what be so bad about this wee collar?" He said taking a closer look at it curiosity drawing his attention.

Her frightened, exhausted frown escaped from reality as the sound and feeling of the collar being released. A feeling of euphoric delight followed as she could only do an instinctive reaction of being freed from such a prison. Such gratefulness caused her to forget telling the fey in front of her. Her instinctive reaction however was not queer of the race as she pressed her lips against his. Fey were after all an expressive and emotional race and such things were not thought uncommon.

When she did remove herself, she looked upward to him and with her hands clasped she spoke with such thankfulness. "I thank you so much; you have saved me from such anguish."

He felt feeling very much like her own as she paid her thanks. Common though it may be amongst the fey he had never done anything much of note to be thanked this way. Add that in with leaving early in his life, and this was quite the experience for him. He felt a rush of heat to his cheeks and a light fluttering in his chest. If he didn't know what it felt like to have magic used on him he would have mistaken it for a spell.

"It be nothin'! J-just a fey lookin' to another fey, but…ye' be welcome…" He said an oddly nervous tone he hadn't heard himself speak since he was a sprite.

"Maybe she be castin' spells after all…" he thought not sure what to make of it.

"As 'fer what be that abomination of a necklace be…" she paused glancing down to it. "Them others use it to suppress magic, a ensnare, a trap it be. I couldn't do nothin' without my magic." she said with feelings of hatred for the trinket. She then returned her gaze to him and let such vile thoughts disappear. "I feel like I owe you so much more, fellow fey or no." she said honestly, all of her emotions seeming to be in overdrive at the moment. But after being locked away for so long, she couldn't help it.

"My name is Ner'yahkavere, an' I've been walkin' about for two full cycles3."

"Who be my savior?"

He gave the necklace a look of disgust and tossed it into a snow bank. "A right fowl trick that be to take ones magic!" he said angered. He'd never heard of such a thing and detested the people from earlier all the more for it. Feeling of hate seeming to bubble away under her stare he took to her question.

"Rauthr'varen be my name. It be…one and a half full cycles, yes that be soundin' right, since I been walkin'. I dunno about callin' me no savior though…" He said a little more than flattered with the attention she was giving him. "Savior? I could be likin' tha'…what be with her though? She ain’t stopped her gazin' fer a good while now…" he thought not taking into account he'd actually been looking her over a fair bit too.

"Well, who knows what them people would do to me if you 'adnt come along now. I can't say I know much about anythin' outside of them being not a race of old, but if there be more like them I dun' want to know about 'em." she stated with a nod.

"I do say, I be in your debt."

"I don't mean to keep repeatin' myself, but I am that grateful 'course." she added, thinking she was being rather clingy to him being her 'savior' for the moment and realizing it was bad manners as far as she knew. She didn't know if other fey had different expectations or anything, her being from a different tribe (or so she assumed, with him being the opposite gender and all).

"Ye aint' got to be in me debt…I…I wouldn't even be knowin' what to ask of yeh'…" He said not with the tone she might be disrespectful but of inexperience. "What does one ask another to repay? I be at a dis-advantage here…" He thought though a lingering though kept playing at his mind.

"I suppose they could have done aught' worse…" He said figuring she was right about that. The fluttering effect she had on him was starting to fade…giving him an idea. "Eh…could you…that first gesture ye be doin'…" He said struggling to get the words together he wanted to use. He didn't know if the flustered feeling she gave him was good or bad but he missed it as soon as it faded.

The first gesture? Was he unsure of something about it? Ner'yahkavere blinked, at first uncertain. "What bein' about it?" she asked, about as oblivious as he was about it when she did it. Though, in all fairness the female fey was exhausted.

He felt his cheeks heat again. What did he mean by it? He understood what he felt about it but putting feeling into words was difficult for him. "I be…not sure…it be confusing to me…" He said not sure how he really felt. It was a unique feeling he hadn't felt before and it was hard to place it as good or bad. He shook his head. "I dunno what to be sayin'. It be making me feel all…strange…" He said trying to express himself. He almost felt the urge to try it himself for lack of a way to express his feelings.

"You be a strange fey, Rauthr'varen, be a simple thing you know." she said, curious to how he was so naive on this matter especially. "..'an it bein' a good one, did you run off from your clan half learnt?"

"No, I aint' run off nowhere half learnt!" He said getting flustered and crossing his arms. "Yer just the first who ever be thankin' me like that…an' now I'm all twitterpated and confused!" He said getting a little louder than he meant but in more of an excited way than angry.

She giggled as she plopped down on a nearby stump. She was exhausted, she felt it in her bones and if she would of had more energy she probably wouldn't of been able to prevent herself from teasing Rauthr from head to toe. But alas she was unable for the moment, but it was a thought.

"Well, be confused all you be wantin' then." she commented as she closed her eyes and tilted back in her place on the stump.

He took a moment to look her over again. She looked in need of rest after her run through the forest and who knows what else she'd been through before he'd found the humans camp. His excitement aside he realized it may be better try and wind things up for the evening and leave all else for tomorrow. He looked around the area they were in and began muttering another spell. There wasn't much snow to work with in the area but with a little magic he’d pull together a small igloo.

"I'll be savin' me confusion for tomorrow. You be lookin' in need of rest fer now and I be feeling a bit tired me’self what with all the magic I been tossin' around." He said trying his best to put his prank loving side away for now in place of a more serious one.

Time then began to teeter as both of the two fey began to rest to conserve energy for the next day, especially Ner'yahkavere who had the most taxing day of her life. She had never thought leaving the clan after the time she had spent there would of been so different. She took a deep breath as she closed her cerulean eyes as the day came to a close.

Part 2

The next morning provided no surprises, as Ner'yahkavere came to her senses with a sense of rejuvenation. The feeling of safety followed soon after as she looked at the northlands forest around her as she wandered out from which she slept. She glanced backward at Rauthr'varen with a sense of whimsy and amusement. Even though she had been more labored through the previous day when it came to fatigue, she had arisen earlier and her natural desire for games came quickly. It was almost a different fey if one was to compare her this morning to her yesterday. With her arms in the air stretching she smiled and almost began to giggle to herself if she had not restrained herself to not awake Rauthr'varen so early or not before she was ready for him to awake.

The ice upon the igloo he had created met fire and heat and soon became water as it fell upon the male fey.

Rauthr would of course jump as a natural reaction to the icy water hitting him. "Oy! 'ey waaat gives?!" He said jumping up and looking around looking rather silly with his clothes sticking to him as well as his hair over his face. His supprise was met with Ner which aleviated some of his concern. "Oi feelin' better the-day are we?" He said shivering as the cold winter air met him. He muttered a bit of his own spell drying himself off to save him the chill. He looked excited to see she was doing better and was actually grinning from her little prank she just pulled.

"It would be takin' a lot to keep a fey down, as you well shou'd kno'." she responded with a giggle, though she kept her eyes on him; prank or no, she did not need the only company she had seen that was pleasant since she left her clan to be getting ill due to her own fancies of fun.

"… 'sides you went to sleep confused, so I figur'd you should awake ta' same."

He couldn't help but smile at her logic for waking him. "Yeah I guess I did be doin' that…you thru' me fer quite the loop the other day…" He said chuckling a bit feeling his cheeks heat a bit remembering the feeling she stirred in him. His thoughts returned to last nights thoughts as well as how to get her back. It had been awhile since he'd been pranked by one of his own and he needed to be careful not to do anything he might regret.

"That be I did. Though it not be me fault you be green in that regard, but swept up in bein' free again I was." she commented, agreeing to an extent but even then teasing the male fey.

Seems she'd be keeping him red in the face most of the day with that behavior. "I suppose I be green to much…collars dat take away magic an' humans takin' slaves…new things aroun’ every corner it seems." He said looking at the collar that was now clearly visible on the ground since last night when he made the igloo. He'd be quiet with this but some of the snow from the tree above would tip Ner's way.

"I could ask yeh to enlighten me teh sum' of these things." He said hoping to mask any sound the snow falling might make.

"As per collars, it be some sort of accursed trinket is all I be knowin'." she replied honestly as she placed her arms behind her head casually. "All I be knowin' is I don' really want to be seein' the sight of their ilk anytime soon, if ye'know." she added as she kept her cerulean eyes on the male fey.

The snow then dipped and fell and on the figure of the female fey causing her expression to go flat as snow plopped from her hair and down to the ground. As a reaction then she channeled some fire magic to melt the snow off as well as warm herself from frost-stricken illnesses that came from it.

"Well played bein' that one, but I suppose you would be preferrin’ me to be all wet an' all."

He didn't think that one out as well as he thought from the way she turned it against him right away. He wasn't sure how to respond to that. He did like seeing her like that and pretty much stared at her almost the way she did at him now. "I…I don't be knowin' quite how to be answerin' tha'…" He said excitedly feeling more of the feeling she left him with the other day and in turn confused by it.

She shook her head, giggling as she reached into her satchel which was fastened by a thick rope around her waist. She retrieved a piece of cloth which she extended and shaped into a cloak through alteration magic.

"Then don't be answerin' it." she said as she tightened the cloak around her shoulders, laying around the bulk of her body. It was way too cold to be confining to water-based pranks now and she now regretting doing it before.

He decided to take her advice and just not answer for a while, or at least until he was able to decide how he felt. "So eh…where yeh be headin?" He asked wanting to change the topic so he could think. He was beginning to wonder if she wanted him to with the pranks and expressions she was showing him. He shouldn't need to think on it anyway. It felt good, he liked it and that was that…so why was saying harder than normal for him? "Bloody well shouldn't be…I'll be lettin' her answer meh question and then I be tellin' her I will!" He thought. Not letting her get to him was important if they were going to keep pranking each other.

"Where I be headin' is away from here, haven' really figured much of that. But I dun' think I'll be goin' south or anythin' however." she said, musing the thought that she heard the humans were talking about heading in that particular direction. She assumed that the whole of them were not the same, but she did not after yesterday wish to test her chances.

"Be soundin' like yah want to go north then cause north aint' south." He said making some fun at her directions. "An’ if dat be the case, I 'aven't the company of a fey in a good while. I should like to be travelin' with yah if you don't be mindin' the company." He said throwing the question to the air not having much to do himself but revel in his own pranks which were quite fun, but not quite something he enjoyed when there was no one to prank. "A’ fer that matter…I suppose I'm not confused…I be likin' the gesture you dud the other day an’ I be likin’ the look of yah when wet." he said somewhat in a rush of wanting it on the open air rather than unsaid. His eyes locked on her nervously for her response.

"Bein' dat, east, or wes- " she stopped hearing his matter-of-the-fact statement and found herself a bit flushed for once. She didn't expect him to tease back in this regard, and she for one had never had similar comments directed to her before. "…well then 'dat you do." she commented in response trying to respond directly and quickly before he realized she could deal it but could not take it herself.

He wouldn't notice much but he would be unsure if she meant that as a good or bad thing given his own inexperience. "…eh east and west yah say?" He asked his nervousness catching up with him from his rushed statement. His eyes were still on her though this time more admiringly. She was very good at expressing herself as far as he could tell. Better than him to say the least. He was a little more reserved than some of the other fey.

"…or, but from me' ears I think I'll be movin' west." she responded, then thought back to one of the questions she had not answered. "…'en if you be wishin' to follow for a yarn then I wouldn't be mindin' such company." she smiled as she turned to westbound or what she perceived to be such.